1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk having audio data and still picture data recorded thereon, a reproduction apparatus and a reproduction method for reproducing information recorded on the optical disk, and a recording medium having a program stored thereon for causing the reproduction apparatus to carrying out a method for reproducing information recorded on the optical disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
One application for a DVD-Audio is a xe2x80x9cslide showxe2x80x9d application for reproducing a plurality of still pictures in a prescribed order synchronously with (or asynchronously with) reproduction of audio information. A typical xe2x80x9cslide showxe2x80x9d application is a music application for sequentially displaying still pictures related to the lyrics of a song synchronously with reproduction of the song.
In a conventional music application, a plurality of still pictures to be displayed for a specific song and the order of displaying the plurality of still pictures are predetermined.
Title producers have demanded a system in which a plurality of still picture groups are prepared for a specific song and one of the still picture groups is selectively displayed. Herein, the term xe2x80x9cstill picture groupxe2x80x9d refers to a group of a plurality of still pictures.
In order to select one of the plurality of still picture groups in accordance with an input from a user, a menu needs to be displayed. Preferably, such a menu can be retrieved at an arbitrary time by operating a button on a device such as a remote control or the like.
However, the contents of the menu are different from one song to another. Providing a menu retrieval button for each song requires many menu retrieval buttons, which makes operation by a remote control or other devices difficult.
According to an aspect of the invention, an optical disk includes an audio data storage area for storing audio data, a still picture data storage area for storing a plurality of pieces of still picture data; and a management area for storing reproduction control information for controlling reproduction of the audio data and the plurality of pieces of still picture data. The reproduction control information has flag information representing specified still picture data among the plurality of pieces of still picture data.
In one embodiment of the invention, the flag information represents that the specified still picture data is not included in the plurality of pieces of still picture data.
According to another aspect of the invention, a reproduction apparatus for reproducing information stored on the above-described optical disk is provided. The reproduction apparatus includes a reading section f or reading the audio data and the plurality of pieces of still picture data from the optical disk; and a reproduction control section for controlling reproduction of the audio data and the plurality of pieces of still picture data in accordance with the reproduction control information. The reproduction control section specifies the specified still picture data among the plurality of pieces of still picture data in accordance with the flag information.
In one embodiment of the invention, the flag information represents that the specified still picture data is not included in the plurality of pieces of still picture data.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a reproduction method for reproducing information stored on the above-described optical disk is provided. The method includes the steps of reading the audio data and the plurality of pieces of still picture data from the optical disk; and controlling reproduction of the audio data and the plurality of pieces of still picture data in accordance with the reproduction control information. The step of controlling includes the step of specifying the specified still picture data among the plurality of pieces of still picture data in accordance with the flag information.
In one embodiment of the invention, the flag information represents that the specified still picture data is not included in the plurality of pieces of still picture data.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a recording medium having recorded thereon a program for causing a reproduction apparatus to carry out a reproduction method for reproducing information stored on the above-described optical disk is provided. The reproduction method includes the steps of reading the audio data and the plurality of pieces of still picture data from the optical disk; and controlling reproduction of the audio data and the plurality of pieces of still picture data in accordance with the reproduction control information. The step of controlling includes the step of specifying the specified still picture data among the plurality of pieces of still picture data in accordance with the flag information.
In one embodiment of the invention, the flag lnformation represents that the specified still picture data is not included in the plurality of pieces of still picture data.
Thus, the invention described herein makes possible the advantages of providing an optical disk, a reproduction apparatus, a reproduction method, and a recording medium for allowing specific still picture data (for example, a menu) which is different among a plurality of audio programs (for example, a plurality of songs) included in an audio title set to be retrieved by operating a common button.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying figures.